Monero Announcement - Reading Assignment

Privacy Coins - Ultimate Course
#182

  1. The thread was published on April 25, 2014, and it has been read 54 times.

  2. There are nineteen ‘core team’ members.

  3. Unlike ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches, Monero obscures only sender/receiver identities and not the whole economy. Private keys also don’t need to be destroyed by the generating party.

  4. Unlike CoinJoin-based approaches, users of Monero currency don’t need to trust the operators. Ring signatures are also more secure and convenient because they mix outputs rather than transactions.

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#183

  1. The original Bitcointalk announcement for Monero was published on the 15th April 2014 & by now it has been read 4650215 times.

  2. In that announcement are seven core team members.

  3. The stated benefits of Monero over ZeroCoin & ZKP-based approaches:

3.1. Arise from research-level cryptography that has been subjected to years of cryptanalysis with many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade.
Ring signatures are much simpler and more mature, so exploits are less-likely to emerge.

3.2. CryptoNote aims for a balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures meanwhile ZKP uses the RSA private key to initiate the accumulator that is a trusted party in charge of destroying the private key. It also obscures the entire economy, not just sender/receiver identities. If the ZK system is compromised, then an attacker can continuously spend coins that don’t exist using false proofs.

  1. XMR is similar to mixing implementations like CoinJoin but of superior quality as it is decentralised & trustless opposing the critical problem with mixing services in the need to trust the operators. XMR’s more fundamental cryptographic approach doesn’t have the vulnerabilities of other CoinJoin-based approaches & the quality of anonymity is much higher.

XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation.

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#184
  1. Published on April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM and until know has been read 4,650,505 times.
  2. 6
  3. Ring Signatures and one-time keys to raise anonymity set
  4. In monero you do not have to cordinate with other senders and don’t trust external actors to validate because it is an implementation in monero itself.
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#185
  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

April 25, 2014 at 12:38:50 AM and it has been read 4,650,882 times as of October 9, 2021 0749hrs GMT.

  1. How many ‘core team’ members are there?

Seven

  1. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

Ring signatures are much simpler and more mature, with many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade.

  1. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

XMR uses new cryptography and provides decentralized and trustless mixing of superior quality. In addition, XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation. This feature makes a timing analysis of the blockchain useless.

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#186

1.) 25.04.2014 / 4’650’892
2.) 7
3.) recent research level cryptography is used → new, so exploitation Danger.
Destruction of private key done by generating Party → trust needed
If system is compromised then coins that dont exist can be spent
4.) Decentralized & Trustless mixing
outputs are mixed not transactions

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#187
  1. April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM
    Read: 4651037 times!!
  2. 7 at the time of announcement
  3. Ring signatures are much simpler and more mature, with many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade.
    ALSO: inability to detect inflations bugs!!!
  4. decentralized and trustless mixing of superior quality
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#188

  1. April 25, 2014 and it’s been read 4,651,049 times.

  2. Seven

  3. It is argued that because ZKP is a recent research-level cryptography, unexpected exploits may develop. Also requires trust that the generating party will destroy the RSA key. Also, the entire economy of a ZKP system is obscured, and so exploits may be created and used without making themselves known to the network.

  4. Most coinjoin inspired implementations rely on master nodes for functionality, which may be compromised. XMR implements output mixing rather than transaction mixing, making it possible to obscure sender/receiver without relying on outside actors.

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#189
  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?
    April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM - Read 4651090 times
  2. How many ‘core team’ members are there?
    7
  3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?
    The stated benefits are related to Ring signatures and one-time keys.
  4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?
    XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation. This feature makes a timing analysis of the blockchain useless.
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#190
  1. It was published on April 25, 2014. As of November 6, 2021, it has been read 4,651,192 times.
  2. Seven core team members.
  3. More mature and peer-reviewed cryptography, lowering the risk off exploits down the road; More trustless process with dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures
  4. more secure and convenient with mixing of outputs rather than transactions.
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#191
  1. April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM, 4651205 times
  2. Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, othe
  3. The ZK environment allows an anonymity set that includes everyone in the network because the validity of an output can be proven without knowing the corresponding public key until it is spent. The largest risk is that this is recent research-level cryptography that hasn’t been subjected to years of cryptanalysis, so exploits may emerge down the road. Ring signatures are much simpler and more mature, with many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade.
    Other issues with ZKP include the RSA private key used to initiate the accumulator, which must be trusted to be destroyed by the generating party. It also obscures the entire economy, not just sender/receiver identities. If the ZK system is compromised, then an attacker can continuously spend coins that don’t exist using false proofs. This damage is hidden from everybody due to total blinding and consequently at any given time it’s not possible to know if the network has already been compromised. There is a tradeoff between these inherent risks and the maximal anonymity set provided by ZKP. CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.
  4. XMR is more qualitatively similar to mixing implementations like CoinJoin. The differences arise in the departure from the Bitcoin protocol, which allows XMR to use new cryptography to provide decentralized and trustless mixing of superior quality. The critical problem with mixing services is the need to trust the operators. As an example, blockchain.info’s mixer gives the following disclaimer: “However if the server was compromised or under subpoena it could be force to keep logs. If this were to happen although you haven’t gained any privacy you haven’t lost any either.”

The CoinJoin-inspired Darkcoin performs mixing with selected “masternodes” since it still uses ordinary signatures that can be mapped one-to-one. The motivation is that a randomly selected node is less likely than a single service to exhibit bad faith (such as keeping logs) . In practice, a few VPS companies host the vast majority of nodes and this approach relies on the integrity and good behavior of these nodes. XMR’s more fundamental cryptographic approach doesn’t have these vulnerabilities and the quality of anonymity is much higher.

XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation. This feature makes a timing analysis of the blockchain useless.

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#192

1 The thread was published April, 25,2014 12:38:50
2 7 Core Team Members
3 Ring signatures and one time keys
4 XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation. This feature makes a timing analysis of the blockchain useless.

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#193
  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?
  • The thread was published on April 25 2014 and has been read 4,6 Million times since then.
  1. How many ‘core team’ members are there?
  • 7
  1. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?
  • Monero relies on more mature cryptography, lowering the risk of exploits with the time; More trustless process with dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.
  1. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?
  • Monero’s ring signatures are far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions: a transaction doesn’t involve waiting for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent at any time without anyone else’s participation. This feature makes a timing analysis of the blockchain useless.
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#194
  1. April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM; it has been read 4651766 times
  2. 6+ : Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, other
  3. CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.
  4. XMR’s ring signatures are far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions.
1 Like
#195

When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

The thread was published on the 25th of April 2014. It was read, at the time of writing this, 4651773 times

How many ‘core team’ members are there?

There are at least 6 core team members:

  • Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni
  • luigi1111
  • NoodleDoodle
  • smooth
  • tacotime
  • Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas
  • other

What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

  • ZeroCoin and ZKP based approaches are recent and hasn’t been time-tested, so they have more chances of getting exploited (Ring Signatures are more mature and simpler)
  • RSA private keys must be trusted to be destroyed by the generating party
  • It obscures the entire economy, not just sender/receiver identities. at any given time it’s not possible to know if the network has already been compromised

What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

  • XMR is trustless and decentralized
  • No need of trust in the integrity of Masternodes
  • Mix of outputs instead of transactions
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#196

  1. April 25 2014, Read 4651817 times

  2. 7 core team members.

  3. Stated benefits over zerocoin and ZKP based approaches are:
    The use of ring signatures and one time keys.

  4. Stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches are:
    Mixing outputs instead of transactions, no waiting time for others to mix with, users dont have to send the same amount.

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#197

1)April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM
Read 4652032 times
2)7
3)Ring signatures and one time keys
4)XMR uses trustless cryptography for mixing, ring signatures are more anonymous, no third party mixer with vulnerabilities.

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#198

  1. 25th April 2014. Read 4652241 times.

  2. 7

  3. Dual layers of privacy provided by one time keys and ring signatures

  4. More secure and convenient as they mix outputs not transactions.

1 Like
#199

1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?
It was published on April 25, 2014, 12:38:50AM.
It’s been read 4,652,760 times.

2. How many ‘core team’ members are there?
Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Francisco “ArticMine” Cabañas and others.

3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?
One-time keys and ring signatures.

4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?
More decentralization and security, trustless mixing of superior quality and much higher quality of anonymity.

1 Like
#200

1.) The thread was published on April 25th, 2014 and has been read 4,653,256 times.
2.) There are 7 core team members.
3.) The stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches are that XMR has dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures. The ZKP environment also allows an anonymity set that includes everyone in the network, and its ring signatures are much simpler and more mature than XMR’s; furthermore, ZKP includes RSA private keys used to initiate the accumulator, which must be trusted and destroyed by the generating party.
4.) The stated benefits of XMR over CoinJoin-based approaches are that XMR provides decentralized and trustless mixing better than basic mixers like CoinJoin. There is no need to trust an operator with XMR and it generates randomly-selected masternodes instead of pre-selected masternodes with ordinary signatures (which can be mapped one-to-one). In addition, XMR’s ring signatures are far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs, not transactions themselves.

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#201

  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read ? : Published 4/25/2014 ; Read 4655056 times.

  2. How many ‘core team’ members are there ? : There were 6… the 7th would be the other(s) Core Team member(s) ; Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, (7) - other

  3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches ? : CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.

  4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches? : The CoinJoin-inspired Darkcoin performs mixing with selected “masternodes” since it still uses
    ordinary signatures that can be mapped one-to-one, XMR’s ring signatures are far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because it mixes outputs and not transactions.

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